Never Trust the Weatherman

We arrive and it has just rained,

It is still raining under the trees,

Steam rises up from the road.

As we head off on our bikes toward the dam,

My previous hesitation (fear) seems ridiculous.

The mud flecks onto my thighs,

And sprays up the back of my shirt.

I notice the mud on my shoes,

I should have worn my new water shoes.

We arrive at the dam viewing area.

It begins to rain,

No, it is pouring.

At least the mud is washing off.

As the rain drops pelt me,

I imagine my sunscreen being whisked away.

I feel my socks soaking up the rain.

A frog jumps through the water covering the path.

Thunder cracks overhead,

We are completely soaked.

Just before the rain lets up,

We slide on the wooden bridge,

And both end up laying on the bridge in the rain.

As we continue,

I'm strangely not upset.

A turtle pulls into his shell as I pass.

What is the point of a swimsuit,

When we are soaked?

I put on my water shoes,

And head to the river.

The water level is high,

Finding a warm spot,

We wash the mud from our clothes.

It starts to rain again.

In the car we change into dry clothes (our swimsuits).

An hour later the sun is,

Shining--brightly.

Never trust the weatherman.

I Am Not a Factory

I used to say that all the time. Just because I make a quilt, or a cake, or a painting, don't expect me to make one for you. I am not a factory. Well, in the last 24 hours I've felt like a bit of a factory. Last night I made two batches of cupcakes (almost 4 dozen) for Ross's company picnic and I frosted them this morning. I made one batch of red velvet with butter roux frosting, and one batch of yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I didn't use my usual chocolate frosting recipe. I used a much simpler one, and it turned out all right. One of our errands last night was to get some piping bags and tips. The piping bags worked out well, and I ended up using a couple of tips that I already had. I am not a decorator at all, but now I can at least play and practice.

Waters and Wellies

After tearing up my feet in the river I decided to buy some water shoes. I really don't like the ones that are mesh on top and rubber on the bottom. I have such bad memories of those. They smell so bad! I found some Speedo Hydro Tread shoes on ebay and bought them. They arrived super quickly and now I'm ready for our next trip to the river.

I have toyed with the idea of getting wellies. Silly, I know, but it seemed that every time I left the house in April it rained. We have had some major downpours here lately and it got me thinking about boots again. I found some cute rubber boots on ebay, but the price went higher than I was willing to pay. I went to DSW with Valerie yesterday and found a really great pair. The really odd thing is that when we went to the clearance section I found them there too. Same boots. Same size. Same color--but thirty percent off. Okay. That works for me. The thing is, that isn't the only pair of shoes I saw both in the regular area and the clearance area. I had a ten dollar off coupon, so I think I got a pretty good deal. The boots are actually clear rubber and the print is on the inside--on cloth.

It was raining yesterday when we left the house to run errands. I wore my new wellies. I jumped in the water puddles, just like I told Ross I would. My pants got a little wet, even though I had them rolled up. Good clean fun, and all my other shoes were at home, nice and dry.

Here Comes 70 Tons!

Yesterday Ross got to drive a Tank! It sounds like he had fun. I am so glad the weather cooperated for him. Down in the DC area we were getting rain, but up here he said it was very nice.

Baby Safari Blanket

Ross made this baby blanket all by himself today. The sewing machine quit on him a couple of times, and we have no idea why. As usual we poked and prodded and shook things until it worked again.

I really like the material he chose, and I'm sure his future niece or nephew will like it too. Well, at least enough to lay, crawl, and spit up on it!

Advice

There were so many times with my nieces here that I wanted to spout out little bits of advice. I figured they wouldn’t listen, and who wants to hear all that crap on vacation anyway? I don’t know if they will read this, but I’m just going to lay it all out here. Little things that I’ve learned along the way.

Answer the question asked.
Listen carefully. It will help with that first one, and lots of other things.
Read, read, read. Read and learn.
Everything in moderation. I really can’t stress that enough. (Smoking and Sunning don’t fall under this category.)
No one can make you feel guilty except yourself. (Don’t fall for guilt trips.)
Don’t start smoking.
Be proud of who you are. If you are tall, stand tall and don’t be afraid to wear high heels. Don’t hide your intelligence, beauty, athleticism, or sexuality. Accept who you are and allow yourself to shine.
Nobody is perfect. Nobody. So striving for perfection is a sure path to failure. Just do your best.
Accept compliments graciously. Say thank you and take it to heart. On the flip side–listen for truths in constructive criticism, but just blow off outright insults.
Take responsibility for your actions. If it was your great idea then own up to it and accept credit. Own up to your mistakes too. Life doesn’t just happen to you. You make choices. Take responsibility for those choices.
Learn to listen to your body.
Keep an open mind.
Always wear sunscreen. Never ever go to a tanning salon or lay out in the sun to get a tan.
Remember, you aren’t perfect, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Also, don’t be afraid to say no. Trying to please everyone by saying yes to every request will just make you miserable.
Don’t skimp on shoes, toilet paper, or milk.
And as my mom always says: books before boys.

I think most people just have to figure this stuff out on their own, but a couple of these I really took to heart when I first heard them.

Censorship

I find censorship fascinating. I'm sure most Americans think that we don't have censorship in this country, but we do. I love to read Pearls Before Swine anthologies because Stephan Pastis (in his comments) talks about censorship in the comics world. I've heard certain actors talk about things they can and cannot say on TV (besides the 7 bad words). I'm sure them talking about it is taboo. I so rarely hear about it. It always tickles me to see what does and what doesn't get past the censors. I'm not sure what brought all this up, except that I've been self-censoring my posts lately. I'm just amazed at the whole idea. It seems unamerican, and I just don't think that most people know about it. Oh well, that's all I have to say.